August 25, 2008

The 10 best (and 5 worst) science fiction theme tunes

I've been watching an awful lot of SF TV shows lately, which has led me to this list (which, admittedly, is pretty much totally outside the normal scope of this blog. Indulge me). Theme music is important for a TV show: it sets the tone, telling the audience what to expect from the next hour. It's especially important with SF: the music has to imply another world and keep its potential audience from watching American Gladiators instead. A great SF theme tune needs to be good music, but it also needs to convey the sense that this is science fiction. With shows like Lost, Heroes, and Jericho basically abandoning theme music altogether, the days of the great SF theme tune may be numbered. Here are ten that get it right, and five that get it so very, very wrong.

The 10 best:

10. Robotech

This mid-'80s Japanese import, which squished three different anime series into a single universe, was miles beyond anything else being marketed toward children at the time. The show holds up surprisingly well, particularly the first season—the Macross series—which is every bit the sophisticated soap opera it seemed in 1986. If you think the theme tune is good, there's some great music throughout the series—I'm partial to "Lonely Soldier Boy," a ballad crooned by cross-dressing, freedom-fighting popstar Yellow Dancer (a.k.a. Lancer).

9. Blake's 7

The theme for the BBC's dystopian space adventure series is pretty over-the-top. It sounds a lot like a synthed-up soap opera theme—and, given the dark drama that drove the Liberator's crew of bandits and rebels, it's a pretty good fit.

8. The Greatest American Hero

Remember when theme tunes were, y'know, actual songs? And mostly it was goofy? Well, here's one that worked. I always assumed that this was a popular song that got tacked onto the show, but no—this was written for the sole purpose of getting you in the mood to see William Katt in tights. The song has aged wonderfully; the show itself, not so much.

7. The X-Files

Though the synth sounds are a bit dated, the music for The X-Files is appropriately spooky. The main melody is like a less-goofy version of the theremin on a '50s SF soundtrack. And you can't go wrong with digital delay.

6. The Twilight Zone

The piercing sounds of this opening sequence put you ill at ease. The Twilight Zone's atmosphere begins and ends here; even the bongos are creepy. It's unusual music for an unusual TV show.

5. Firefly

This one gets a lot of flak, and I'll freely admit that I hated it the first few times I heard it. But it fits in quite well with the show's atmosphere—if any SF show should have a country theme, it's Firefly. It loses points for the lyrics, which are meaningful but also a bit silly. It would be higher on this list had it been an instrumental. (In fact, the closing credits version is).

4. Knight Rider

The Knight Rider theme just might be the ultimate musical expression of the mid-1980s, and is almost certainly responsible for most of the electronic music of the mid-90s. You'll be pleased to know that it still holds up. (Was the tempo always that fast, though? I remembered it being slower.)

3. Star Trek: The Next Generation

The orchestral pomp of this iconic theme builds on previously-released material—Alexander Courage's fanfare from the original series and Jerry Goldsmith's opening theme for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It's not arbitrary recycling: those two pieces of music sum up the spirit of Gene Rodenberry's vision of the future perfectly. You can explain the whole show pretty well by saying "it's about the future—and it sounds like this.

When I first got into Doctor Who, I got the show's theme stuck in my head for about six months straight. The fact that the music could remain fundamentally unchanged—with different recordings, sure, but still the same basic music—for over 40 years says a lot. But what's really amazing about the original music is how ahead of its time it was. First composed in 1963, it presages synthesizer sounds that wouldn't come into full fruition for nearly 20 years (see Knight Rider above). The sound of the Doctor Who theme is the sound of science fiction. This is the earliest version from the era of the First Doctor, 1963-1966.

1. Alien Nation

There are a lot of things that were great about Alien Nation, which suffered one of the most unjust cancellations in television history in 1990. One of the best things about it was its theme music, which was intended to sound like the kind of music aliens would make. It succeeds. The music is a testament to how thoroughly the show's creators thought out the alien Newcomers' culture. It's a beautiful and original piece of music that's tied directly in with the show's science-fictional aims, and that's why I think it's the best theme tune in the history of science fiction TV.

And the 5 worst:

5. Flash Gordon (2007)

Take a generic synthesized theme tune from the '80s. Do a techno remix. Lather, rinse, repeat.

4. Battlestar Galactica (new)

Generally speaking, the new BSG has a lovely, atmospheric score. And the first 30 seconds or so of the theme tune reflect that—strings, haunting vocals in an unspecified language, a generally elegiac atmosphere. Then those damned drums kick in and ruin everything. The beginning feels like it's building to something exciting, and then it all falls apart. Skip the drum circle and just start the dang show already.

3. Logan's Run

Apparently, the producers of the Logan's Run TV series thought that science fiction theme tunes needed to have little ray gun noises in them. "Pew pew pew!" I can forgive the disco sound—but not the apparent ripoff of the melody to the original Star Trek tune.

2. Quantum Leap

Don't get me wrong—the Quantum Leap theme is catchy. But the production is very Kenny G; hearing it for the first time you might think it was a spin-off of Doogie Howser. There's nothing about this music that says "science fiction." One can only hope they were trying to embody Sam Beckett's milquetoastisness, but the end result just feels bland. Not only that, it's long—nearly a minute and a half for a credit sequence that only needs to name two actors and the show's creator. Even worse was their attempt to liven it up in the final season—let's just say it didn't help matters.

1. Star Trek: Enterprise

Poor Scott Bakula. Why can't the guy get a decent theme tune? Much-reviled for a reason, the terrible sub-Rod-Stewart stylings that introduced Star Trek's fade-out series isn't just a bad song, it's a betrayal of a legacy. Trek had a tradition of truly majestic music that truly encompassed the spirit of the Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision of the future. Lyrics about hope aside, this weak adult-contemporary mess inspires despair. I put this theme tune at the top of the list of reasons why Enterprise failed—it's really that bad.

Got a theme tune you wish had made one of the lists? Want to argue about the electric-piano-fueled Quantum Leap theme? Let me know in the comments!

Let me chime in to disagree with your choice of BSG as one of the worst. If you had but done a little research and gone to IMDB you would know that the "unspecified language" is Hindu and is a famous mantra from the Rig Veda.

But seriously. I almost died when I watched the first episode of Enterprise and the music had WORDS! And was some silly adult pop song that was played over and over on the mall loudspeaker. But it did fit the tenor of the show. It was just as bad as that song.

Gotta agree with veryone who showed their love of the BSG theme, drums and all.

My own two favorite SF themes are not on the list:
The first is the Aeon Flux theme song. The opening sequence was just as strange and awesome as the series itself.
The second is a recent addition - the opening sequence of British time travel show "Primeval" which you can catch here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE3Gf-WYYRk
It's a very catchy, SFnal tune, much better than the show it precedes, actually.
I wanted to add Farscape but listening to the Alien Nation theme I think it was more or less copied from there.

In regards to the speeded up tempo of the knight rider theme, you have the opener there from season 3 around the time of super pursuit omg, lets nullify gravity mode. The first season and second season theme was much slower and cooler :)

And I must go now and get my scarlet letter (with LED that goes from side to side) for being privvy to this bit of informata :)